I see. Are there perhaps two Mathieu Flaminis? No, it’s definitely the same one. He is a partner in an Italian company, GFBiochemicals, which claims to have found a new way to manufacture levulinic acid (LA).

Which is what, exactly? 4-oxopentanoic acid, or CH3C(O)CH2CH2CO2H. It is an organic compound that could be used as a precursor to biofuels.

And Flamini makes this stuff? He has been funding research into it since his days with AC Milan, eventually starting a company with a partner, Pasquale Granata.

Where did their research take them? “After several months, we came up with the technology of how to produce LA on an industrial scale,” says Flamini. “We patented it.” The GFBiochemicals plant in Caserta now employs 80 people, synthesising LA from biomass waste.

It sounds as if this could be worth some money. “We are opening a new market,” says Flamini. “And it’s a market potentially worth £20bn.”

Wow! He’ll be able to retire. A lot of fans are suggesting he could use the money to buy Arsenal and fund the purchase of new players.

That’s a terrible idea. Because it overlooks Flamini’s obvious commitment to green issues and financing technological advances that could ultimately rescue our planet?

No, because I hate Arsenal. What does Wenger say about all this moonlighting? Apparently, he had no idea. “I don’t think Arsène Wenger knows, I never spoke to him about it,” says Flamini, who didn’t even tell family members about the investment until recently.

Do say: “While it remains to be seen whether levulinic acid can provide a cost-effective building block in biofuel manufacture, the compound has many applications in the pharmaceutical, plastics and solvent industries. Go on, my son!”